Al Knoth, a longtime bluegrass radio host and a bluegrass lover who brought the South San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey Bay Area bluegrass community together before the formal organization of the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society (now the Northern California Bluegrass Society) has died. He was 85 years old.
His on-air name was “Cousin Al” (or “Cuzin’ Al”) and his main program across the decades was simply “Cousin Al’s Bluegrass Show.” It first appeared in 1970 on KTAO in Los Gatos, but then most-famously moved to the legendary KFAT in Gilroy. That station was sold after the untimely death of its founder and the staff regrouped at the satellite broadcaster KHIP in Hollister. Al concluded his career in 2016 after years on the KFAT successor KPIG in Freedom (near Watsonville).
KFAT was both a radio station and a cultural phenomenon. It evoked the lure of the aging rural hippie culture that resided in the Santa Cruz Mountains (having exited San Francisco after the “Summer of Love” passed into history). The station’s laid-back ruralism appealed to the young denizens of the rapidly-developing high tech economy of Silicon Valley, offering an escape from their urban world of cubicles and coding. The alt-country, alt-rock, alt-blues, and bluegrass format was a balm to the Northern California soul. It was a unique and special broadcaster, and it made its listeners feel unique and special as well.
Al (as “Cactus Jack“) also had long-running monthly bluegrass programs on KKUP in Cupertino and KCSM in San Mateo.
Al’s purely-traditional bluegrass programming avoided most modern trends, but he did find a bit of airtime for Hawaiian tunes, his other musical passion. He was also known for playing humorous recordings and for his on-air witticisms, such as “Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like bananas.”
From his earliest broadcasts in the 1970s, Al drew both existing fans and new recruits to the music. To entertain them, Al began to present live concerts in the South Bay and even a festival at Lake San Antonio in Monterey County. His program was the focus of the local bluegrass community. This organizing eventually led to the creation (by others) of the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society in 1982. Al also served as an early board member of the California Bluegrass Association.
Al was raised in a large extended Sicilian Italian family in a home next door to the Holy Cross Catholic Church in downtown San Jose. The radio in the kitchen was always on, tuned to a wide variety of musical programming. One Sunday evening show featured Hawaiian music direct from the Islands. Al and his sister Nadine Knoth fell in love with the island songs.
Al later in life took banjo lessons from Peter Grant and became a performing musician himself. He was also a popular bluegrass concert and festival emcee.
After graduation from San Jose High School, Al worked for a time as a gas station attendant before serving in the US Army Intelligence Service at Fort Benning. GA. Later, he was involved in the family occupation — water and sewer. His father Walter “Bud” Knoth and brother Dennis both worked for the San Jose Water Company. Al took a different path, going into the business of selling water pipes and sewer tanks to the trade. His western US territory was eventually expanded to include Hawaii.
On a business trip, Al stayed at the Honolulu hotel owned by the famed Hawaiian performer Don Ho, where another lesser-known native musician Ledward Kaapana and his family band also played. Al and Ledward met and became friends. They visited often when the rising star Ledward toured the mainland.
Al’s mother Josephine Knoth was a professional comedienne who performed at local clubs under the stage name Gramma Jean.
Al’s first wife and the mother of his children was Margaret. Later he was married to Kim Elking of Sidesaddle fame.
Alan Arthur Knoth is survived by his sister Nadine of San Jose and brother Gary Knoth of Morgan Hill, and by his daughter Colleen Knoth of San Jose and son (and old-time musician) Matt Knoth of San Francisco. His ex-wife Kim also survives.
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Radio Tributes: Saturday, September 9, 10:00am — County Line Bluegrass, KVMR — Nevada City, 89.5FM, www.kvmr.org (Host — Eric Rice). Monday, September 11, 6:00pm — Monday Night Bluegrass, KKUP — Cupertino, 91.5FM, www.kkup.org (Host — Mike Russell).
